Richard Green: “One of my strongest hopes is to be able to ‘give something’ to someone with my music and my stories”
I first encountered the work of Italian musician, guitarist, and composer Richard Green just over two years ago. A gorgeous little tune called A Lesson made its way across my proverbial desk, and ever since, I've been a huge fan of the extremely prolific artist.
Having had the pleasure of interviewing Richard back in the day, I decided to reach out again to see whether he'd be up for a long-overdue catch-up. Fortunately, he was more than willing to make it happen.
Chatting with us about his latest EP, Electronic Therapy, why he still holds The Beatles and John Frusciante in such high regard, and what "being successful" in the music industry looks like to him, please welcome my old pal Richard Green!
Hey Richard, it's such a pleasure to be able to catch up with you again - it's been a while!
Now, for the unfortunate souls who haven't discovered your music yet, what are they missing out on? How would you describe your sound?
Well, about my sounds...I'm only a guy who likes to make music, but music with feelings and emotions. I try to transport my life experiences into music; I consider it my way of speaking, a way to talk with people from all over the world...By the way, one of my strongest hopes is to be able to "give something" to someone with my music and my stories....
About my sounds and music styles, well, if someone does not know me yet, my music could look a bit random in terms of music styles, but it's not.
I guess one of my strongest points is my creativity, indeed, the fact that my music ranges over several styles of music, from classical to electronic and dance music, is my main characteristic, my persona "signature" as an artist/producer.
I've become a little obsessed with Purpose and Price, a genre-blending and utterly immersive track you released last year.
How did you stitch a song with so many moving parts together, and what kind of response do you hope the tune stirs up in people?
That tune has two very distinct parts, that was the idea from the beginning, a more chilled part, one with a few blues/jazzy vibes, and a second more aggressive one, the electronic/funk. This is because even the concept of the tune is divided into two main parts, "PURPOSE"...and "PRICE".
Indeed, the two sections are related to that; the aggressive one is connected to the "PRICE", and the other is related to "PURPOSE". The "PRICE " section wants to be aggressive cause sometimes we sacrifice so much for our goals that we compromise our humanity, without even realising it.
Well, this tune faces an important concept, I guess, subjective for each of us, I just hope that people will think a bit more about how important it is to preserve our humanity. Also, I've created this track to remind myself too…
Let's chat about Electronic Therapy, your newly released EP.
Across six tracks, you unsurprisingly blur the lines between electronic, techno, and house music.
Is there something that connects all the tunes beneath the surface, or do they proudly stand alone?
Well, it's not like my neoclassical music project - that is a music trilogy and it's a kind of story with three EPs and the concept is all connected - but all 6 tracks are linked to the title of the EP, therapy, because many treat favorable or negative thoughts or anxieties with music, and these 6 tracks are related to this concept, dealing with different emotions and situations.
Take us through some of your biggest musical influences.
And, just for fun, if you could pluck one song from history and add your name to it, which would it be?
There are mannny, from John Frusciante and The Beatles (I've grown up listening to them since I was 3-4 years old) to even Daft Punk and The Chemical Brothers. I've tried, from the beginning, to mix all my influences together in order to create my own specific music style.
When you’re not creating music, what keeps you busy and happy? Take us through a non-music day in the life of Richard Green.
I like to run 3 times per week - that's a kind of meditation for me. I also like spending time in nature with friends, and luckily, the Province of Piacenza, my hometown, has many wonderful places like that. I enjoy them a lot during the summertime.
Success is, obviously, such a broad term with different meanings for everyone.
What would “being successful in the music industry" look like to you?
Well, to be able to talk to many people through my music and at the same time be able to pay for my food and bills at least - that would be amazing and definitely a success for me.
What, to you, is music’s role in society?
I consider it one of the most immediate art forms to understand and "feel". I believe music should help and unite people; this is one of the main points if we consider music as art...
Richard, it's been so good catching up! Thank you so much for taking the time!
Before we say farewell for now, what is next on your sonic horizon, and do you have any words of wisdom you'd like to leave us with?
Well, I'm grateful for this opportunity to talk about my music and my projects. I hope to see you again soon…because a lot of new music is coming and I still have a lot of things to say with my songs and music productions 😉
Sincerely thanks to you and to everyone who will listen to my music 😉
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